DONEGAL Deputy Pearse Doherty has slammed as ‘shameful and totally unforgiveable’ the latest figures from the HSE which reveal that a third of all patients who are waiting six months or more for an out-patient appointment at Letterkenny University Hospital have been on waiting lists for over a year to be seen by a Consultant.
Hundreds having been on waiting lists for more than 15 months – the maximum permissible waiting time for patient appointments, the shock figures show.
Deputy Doherty, who received the data following correspondence issued by the HSE, says that the findings clearly prove that the Health Minister, who last year introduced a maximum allowable waiting time of 15 months for all out-patient appointments by year end, has failed to achieve his own targets and says the Minister must now explain what he plans to do to tackle the crisis.
The Sinn Fein TD said: “In January 2015 the Minister boasted of how he was putting in place maximum permissible waiting times for both day case and out-patient appointments across all public and voluntary hospitals and that, by year end, no patient would be waiting for more than 15 months to be seen.
“In fact, the Minister has consistently been on record as saying that he would ensure that these waiting times would be achieved and that he was working closely with the HSE to reach these targets across our acute public hospitals.
“Accordingly, I decided to have these claims looked into and so I requested a breakdown of the total number of patients currently on waiting lists for out-patient appointments at Letterkenny University Hospital for each of the hospital’s 15 out-patient clinics as well as the waiting times experienced by patients with respect to each.
“Subsequently, the figures which I have received show that there are over 5,500 patients currently waiting six months or longer to be seen by a Consultant at the hospital, a third of whom have been waiting for a year or more, while 331 patients in total have been waiting for more than the maximum allowable waiting time of 15 months.
“These figures prove that the Minister has completely failed to fulfil his promise to reduce hospital waiting times for patients and to achieve his target of having no patient remaining on waiting lists outside the maximum time of 15 months.
“It is shameful and totally unforgiveable that anyone, especially someone who may be quite ill, should be waiting for months on end to be seen by a hospital consultant, despite government spin promising otherwise.
“I do not intend to let this matter rest, and I now intend to put these figures to the Minister once the Dáil resumes where I will be demanding that he states how it is he plans to address this chaotic situation which patients are now faced with having to wait for months and months before receiving treatment.”
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